New Scam Hits Idaho
By Hailey Higgins, Local News 8 Reporter
IDAHO FALLS - Scammers who tried to fool businesses last fall, are at it again. And, one Idaho Falls business almost lost $26,000 to the scam last week.
The scam looks like it is from the U.S. Department of Transportation. It asks for complete bank information for government records.
The Better Business Bureau says an unnamed business got caught up on the scam, and attempted to wire $26,000. Luckily the business's bank caught on before the wire was completed.
The BBB says scammers are saying they are from the U.S. government to get personal information. But the big tip-off in this scam was the wire information was out of the country.
"Just because it says U.S. government doesn't mean they are the U.S. government or the Department of Transportation," warns Donna Oe, CEO and President of the Better Business Bureau. "Know what you're working with. Anytime you send any of your personal information, know that's really where you are sending it."
If you run into this scam or any other, the Better Business Bureau would like to know about it.
Tuesday, March 31, 2009
Tuesday, March 24, 2009
Woman with fake ID gets fake breasts.. No...I'm not making it up.
Cops: Woman with fake ID gets fake breasts
She skipped town after getting $12,000 surgery under false line of credit
HUNTINGTON BEACH, Calif. - Police are seeking a woman they said used a false identity to get breast implants and liposuction, then skipped town.
Huntington Beach police said Monday that a 30-year-old woman opened a line of credit in someone else's name in September and had the procedures worth more than $12,000 performed at the Pacific Center For Plastic Surgery.
Employees said she never returned for follow-up visits.
Police said the woman faces charges of commercial burglary, grand theft and identity theft.
She skipped town after getting $12,000 surgery under false line of credit
HUNTINGTON BEACH, Calif. - Police are seeking a woman they said used a false identity to get breast implants and liposuction, then skipped town.
Huntington Beach police said Monday that a 30-year-old woman opened a line of credit in someone else's name in September and had the procedures worth more than $12,000 performed at the Pacific Center For Plastic Surgery.
Employees said she never returned for follow-up visits.
Police said the woman faces charges of commercial burglary, grand theft and identity theft.
Monday, March 16, 2009
FedEx scam
This is what i received in my email one day, if all this was true, wouldn't i be rich....
Dear Customer, On behalf of the entire staff of Fed-Ex, this email is coming to you as a reminder concerning your package that was deposited with us on your behalf. We want to bring it to your notice that your package has been registered and the delivery of your package will commence immediately we receive our security keeping fee ($95) from you. You are advised to make payment through Western Union or Money Gram to our FEDEX representative accounting officer over here.
So you are to make the payment of $95 Dollars via WESTERN UNION MONEY TRANSFER in the name of our accounting officer whose details are stated below.
Receiver Name: Mr. Tunde James Receiver Address: 70 International Airport Road Mafoluku, Abuja Nigeria You are to send the necessary payment details via e-mail to this same e-mail address. Once your payment information is recieved and confirmed by our Accounting officer Mr. Tunde James, we will immediately commence delivery and you will be able to track your package with the tracking details given to you and know where it is. Get back to me with the Below information immediately you send the money via Western Union Money Transfer:
Sender's Name: Your Name Sender's Address:
Your Address Amount To be Sent: $95usd Money Transfer Control Number (M.T.C.N).........................
Text Question: What For Text Answer: Delivery Ensure you send the payment information which was given to you via WESTERN UNION for easy pick up.
Management,Suleman Isah
Dear Customer, On behalf of the entire staff of Fed-Ex, this email is coming to you as a reminder concerning your package that was deposited with us on your behalf. We want to bring it to your notice that your package has been registered and the delivery of your package will commence immediately we receive our security keeping fee ($95) from you. You are advised to make payment through Western Union or Money Gram to our FEDEX representative accounting officer over here.
So you are to make the payment of $95 Dollars via WESTERN UNION MONEY TRANSFER in the name of our accounting officer whose details are stated below.
Receiver Name: Mr. Tunde James Receiver Address: 70 International Airport Road Mafoluku, Abuja Nigeria You are to send the necessary payment details via e-mail to this same e-mail address. Once your payment information is recieved and confirmed by our Accounting officer Mr. Tunde James, we will immediately commence delivery and you will be able to track your package with the tracking details given to you and know where it is. Get back to me with the Below information immediately you send the money via Western Union Money Transfer:
Sender's Name: Your Name Sender's Address:
Your Address Amount To be Sent: $95usd Money Transfer Control Number (M.T.C.N).........................
Text Question: What For Text Answer: Delivery Ensure you send the payment information which was given to you via WESTERN UNION for easy pick up.
Management,Suleman Isah
Thursday, March 12, 2009
Iraq solider scam
By Araksya Karapetyan
IDAHO FALLS - If you get an email from someone claiming to be an attorney of a solider killed in Iraq, don't respond, in fact don't even bother reading any further."I have a personal proposal for you, to present you to my bank as a beneficiary to my late client who died in Iraq," reads Tara Carson.Tara Carson got this strange email."It was asking if I would like to be the person that gets the money because the guy died in Iraq and so did his family, and they haven't been able to trace down any of his other family, so they randomly picked me to just take his money," says Carson.We're talking $14.5 million."That's a lot and a lot of people will do almost anything for money," says Carson."Did you for a second believe that?" asks Araksya Karapetyan."No that's why I wanted to try to get more information on it," says Carson.So she wrote back and asked, one simple question - how did he die?She got a response, another email, with other details, but not an answer to her question."Once the funds is transferred to your account we shall split the ratio 65 for me, 30 for you, and 5 for the expenses. It was weird, I was like why me," says Carson.There was a number listed, so we gave it a shot.Operator: "We're sorry your call cannot be completed as dialed, please check the number and dial again.""I am surprised because if he really wanted my identity that bad and wanted everything, he would have given me a real number to call," says Carson.It was along distance number, so some might not bother calling, and stick to the Internet."Think, get more information before you do anything, before you send out your social security number, your identity, your phone number," says Carson.
IDAHO FALLS - If you get an email from someone claiming to be an attorney of a solider killed in Iraq, don't respond, in fact don't even bother reading any further."I have a personal proposal for you, to present you to my bank as a beneficiary to my late client who died in Iraq," reads Tara Carson.Tara Carson got this strange email."It was asking if I would like to be the person that gets the money because the guy died in Iraq and so did his family, and they haven't been able to trace down any of his other family, so they randomly picked me to just take his money," says Carson.We're talking $14.5 million."That's a lot and a lot of people will do almost anything for money," says Carson."Did you for a second believe that?" asks Araksya Karapetyan."No that's why I wanted to try to get more information on it," says Carson.So she wrote back and asked, one simple question - how did he die?She got a response, another email, with other details, but not an answer to her question."Once the funds is transferred to your account we shall split the ratio 65 for me, 30 for you, and 5 for the expenses. It was weird, I was like why me," says Carson.There was a number listed, so we gave it a shot.Operator: "We're sorry your call cannot be completed as dialed, please check the number and dial again.""I am surprised because if he really wanted my identity that bad and wanted everything, he would have given me a real number to call," says Carson.It was along distance number, so some might not bother calling, and stick to the Internet."Think, get more information before you do anything, before you send out your social security number, your identity, your phone number," says Carson.
Monday, March 9, 2009
Computer disk with Personal information of Site employees lost
Computer Disk with Personal Information of Site Employees Lost
IDAHO FALLS - Personal information for thousand of current and former Idaho National Laboratory employees may be at risk.
The Department of Energy's Office of Health, Safety and Security said a computer disk containing information like first and last name, date of birth and social security numbers, was lost during shipment on January 30.
The DOE said the disk is password-protected and there is no evidence that the personal information on the disk has been compromised.
However, they are advising workers to take precautions to protect their identities.
The Office of Health, Safety and Security is working with UPS, which was transporting the disk, to recover the disk and make sure the data is secured.
Idaho's Congressional Delegation is calling on the Department of Energy for improved security measures regarding employees.
"It is unacceptable that information including Social Security numbers, date of birth and other personal data could be lost in this fashion," the Delegation members said. "We are encouraging the DOE to follow through on plans to protect the credit histories and other personal liability for the employees involved. In addition, we call on DOE to take the proper security precautions to ensure this kind of incident never happens again."
The information was originally generated by INL to support a medical screening program for former workers who could have been exposed to hazardous materials on the job. The data contained information on past and present employees who worked at DOE's Idaho facilities prior to 2006.
Idaho National Lab then provided this information without incident to Queens College, who is supporting DOE's Former Worker Medical Screening Program.
The Idaho National Lab transmitted the data requested by Office of Health, Safety and Security in accordance with the data protection standards of the Department at the time, and instructed the subcontractor of the Department's rules for protecting private data.
While in its possession, Queens College shipped a password-protected computer disk to another program contributor, the CPWR - The Center for Construction Research and Training, formerly known as the Center to Protect Workers' Rights, (CPWR), as part of the ongoing program. This computer disk was shipped overnight using UPS. On January 30, 2009, UPS notified Queens College that the package had been damaged in transit and its contents were currently missing.
Office of Health, Safety and Security is conducting an investigation of this incident to evaluate the adequacy of the procedures being used by contractors, subcontractors, and other program contributors for transmitting worker privacy information and for timely reporting of such incidents when they occur.
Frequently Asked Questions About Employee Information CD Loss
How do I know if I was affected? The lost CD contained personal information for anyone who ever was issued a badge to work at DOE's Idaho site from its inception in 1949 until the data was provided to DOE-ID in mid-April 2006. This includes employees of Argonne National Laboratory-West, the Idaho Cleanup Project, the Advanced Mixed Waste Treatment Project, interns, subcontracted employees and employees of other government agencies (NOAA, USGS) who were issued badges to work at DOE's Idaho facilities. It does not include employees at the Naval Reactors Facility, which has its own badging system.
What is INL doing to assist people affected by this? INL, DOE and its other contractors are attempting to notify by letter all current and retired employees to inform them about the missing CD and provide information for free credit alert and reporting services. INL also created a Web page to provide information.
Why did Queens College have this information? As part of the Former Worker Medical Screening Program, the Department of Energy must notify current and former employees that they may be eligible for medical evaluation. In April 2006, the DOE Office of Health, Safety and Security asked INL contractor Battelle Energy Alliance (BEA) to provide information for all employees who had worked at DOE's Idaho facilities. BEA provided information about anyone who had ever had a badge at the site, from its inception until the date of the request.
This information was provided to the Center for Construction Research and Training (CPWR, formerly the Center to Protect Workers' Rights) and Queens College, which the Office of Health, Safety and Security had hired to manage the construction-worker and non-construction-worker aspects of the program, respectively. In January 2009, those organizations prepared to send out a second mailing by revisiting the data to remove people who had already enrolled for medical screening. Queens College informed DOE and INL that it had mailed a password-protected CD containing Idaho employee and subcontractor data to the CPWR via overnight commercial delivery. When the package arrived at CPWR, it had been damaged - the disk had been separated from its case, was not inside the package and has not been located.
How many employees were affected? Data for approximately 59,000 people was on the CD.
What information was on the CD? First and last name (in some cases middle initial), date of birth, Social Security number, badge number, employer, separation date.
Why was such sensitive information needed to send people a letter? The Internal Revenue Service maintains the most reliable current address information, so Social Security numbers were used to ensure that everyone who has ever worked at the Idaho Site received Former Worker Medical Screening Program letters.
What should I do if my information was on that CD? You can register for free credit report monitoring through www.annualcreditreport.com, the federally-mandated site sponsored by the three credit reporting agencies, Transunion, Experian and Equifax. The law entitles individuals to one free credit report from each agency per year. Employees can also place a 90-day "fraud alert" on their file through the above site or by calling one of the credit reporting agencies directly at the numbers listed below.
IDAHO FALLS - Personal information for thousand of current and former Idaho National Laboratory employees may be at risk.
The Department of Energy's Office of Health, Safety and Security said a computer disk containing information like first and last name, date of birth and social security numbers, was lost during shipment on January 30.
The DOE said the disk is password-protected and there is no evidence that the personal information on the disk has been compromised.
However, they are advising workers to take precautions to protect their identities.
The Office of Health, Safety and Security is working with UPS, which was transporting the disk, to recover the disk and make sure the data is secured.
Idaho's Congressional Delegation is calling on the Department of Energy for improved security measures regarding employees.
"It is unacceptable that information including Social Security numbers, date of birth and other personal data could be lost in this fashion," the Delegation members said. "We are encouraging the DOE to follow through on plans to protect the credit histories and other personal liability for the employees involved. In addition, we call on DOE to take the proper security precautions to ensure this kind of incident never happens again."
The information was originally generated by INL to support a medical screening program for former workers who could have been exposed to hazardous materials on the job. The data contained information on past and present employees who worked at DOE's Idaho facilities prior to 2006.
Idaho National Lab then provided this information without incident to Queens College, who is supporting DOE's Former Worker Medical Screening Program.
The Idaho National Lab transmitted the data requested by Office of Health, Safety and Security in accordance with the data protection standards of the Department at the time, and instructed the subcontractor of the Department's rules for protecting private data.
While in its possession, Queens College shipped a password-protected computer disk to another program contributor, the CPWR - The Center for Construction Research and Training, formerly known as the Center to Protect Workers' Rights, (CPWR), as part of the ongoing program. This computer disk was shipped overnight using UPS. On January 30, 2009, UPS notified Queens College that the package had been damaged in transit and its contents were currently missing.
Office of Health, Safety and Security is conducting an investigation of this incident to evaluate the adequacy of the procedures being used by contractors, subcontractors, and other program contributors for transmitting worker privacy information and for timely reporting of such incidents when they occur.
Frequently Asked Questions About Employee Information CD Loss
How do I know if I was affected? The lost CD contained personal information for anyone who ever was issued a badge to work at DOE's Idaho site from its inception in 1949 until the data was provided to DOE-ID in mid-April 2006. This includes employees of Argonne National Laboratory-West, the Idaho Cleanup Project, the Advanced Mixed Waste Treatment Project, interns, subcontracted employees and employees of other government agencies (NOAA, USGS) who were issued badges to work at DOE's Idaho facilities. It does not include employees at the Naval Reactors Facility, which has its own badging system.
What is INL doing to assist people affected by this? INL, DOE and its other contractors are attempting to notify by letter all current and retired employees to inform them about the missing CD and provide information for free credit alert and reporting services. INL also created a Web page to provide information.
Why did Queens College have this information? As part of the Former Worker Medical Screening Program, the Department of Energy must notify current and former employees that they may be eligible for medical evaluation. In April 2006, the DOE Office of Health, Safety and Security asked INL contractor Battelle Energy Alliance (BEA) to provide information for all employees who had worked at DOE's Idaho facilities. BEA provided information about anyone who had ever had a badge at the site, from its inception until the date of the request.
This information was provided to the Center for Construction Research and Training (CPWR, formerly the Center to Protect Workers' Rights) and Queens College, which the Office of Health, Safety and Security had hired to manage the construction-worker and non-construction-worker aspects of the program, respectively. In January 2009, those organizations prepared to send out a second mailing by revisiting the data to remove people who had already enrolled for medical screening. Queens College informed DOE and INL that it had mailed a password-protected CD containing Idaho employee and subcontractor data to the CPWR via overnight commercial delivery. When the package arrived at CPWR, it had been damaged - the disk had been separated from its case, was not inside the package and has not been located.
How many employees were affected? Data for approximately 59,000 people was on the CD.
What information was on the CD? First and last name (in some cases middle initial), date of birth, Social Security number, badge number, employer, separation date.
Why was such sensitive information needed to send people a letter? The Internal Revenue Service maintains the most reliable current address information, so Social Security numbers were used to ensure that everyone who has ever worked at the Idaho Site received Former Worker Medical Screening Program letters.
What should I do if my information was on that CD? You can register for free credit report monitoring through www.annualcreditreport.com, the federally-mandated site sponsored by the three credit reporting agencies, Transunion, Experian and Equifax. The law entitles individuals to one free credit report from each agency per year. Employees can also place a 90-day "fraud alert" on their file through the above site or by calling one of the credit reporting agencies directly at the numbers listed below.
Wednesday, March 4, 2009
E-mail scams get makeover for recession
E-mail scams get makeover for recession
Identity thieves send spam purporting to come from hiring companies
By Jordan Robertson
The Associated Press
updated 2:15 p.m. MT, Wed., March. 4, 2009
SAN FRANCISCO - A staple of the spammer's arsenal — those come-ons for job offers — is getting a makeover because of the recession as online identity thieves concoct clever new ways to sneak onto people's computers.
One tactic the bad guys are trying is a twist on an old standby: e-mails purporting to come from legitimate companies that say they're still hiring.
The messages are loaded with links to the company's official Web site to throw off suspicious recipients. However, they are also packed with a dangerous surprise — a computer virus — hidden in an attachment that is supposed to be a job application.
One message, supposedly from Coca-Cola Co., trumpets that "We are hiring!" All the recipient has to do is fill out the attached application to get started.
There are some tip-offs, though, that the message is fraudulent: the English is choppy, the company promises 12 weeks of paid vacation and that "None of the positions require any kind of education or work experience!"
Another tactic represents the flip side of that deception. Spammers are sending e-mails pretending to reject people for jobs, instead of trying to recruit them. Those messages say the recipients weren't selected for a particular job, so the company has sent back their application — disguising the malicious program.
"What they're trying to tap into is human curiosity," said Dermot Harnett, principal analyst of anti-spam engineering with Symantec Corp. "Maybe people have lost their jobs, or they're looking for another job, and they're looking at their e-mail constantly to see if they have responses from potential employers."
The Federal Trade Commission is also warning about a spate of economic-stimulus scams — spam messages promising stimulus money simply by revealing bank account or credit card numbers.
One way to protect yourself is by never clicking on links or opening e-mail attachments from people you don't know. If you're a jobseeker who gets one of these messages, contact the company's human resources department yourself to follow up on an application or to make sure a job opening exists.
And don't rely on the sender's e-mail address either as proof that the message is coming from a legitimate source. Hackers can easily spoof those.
Identity thieves send spam purporting to come from hiring companies
By Jordan Robertson
The Associated Press
updated 2:15 p.m. MT, Wed., March. 4, 2009
SAN FRANCISCO - A staple of the spammer's arsenal — those come-ons for job offers — is getting a makeover because of the recession as online identity thieves concoct clever new ways to sneak onto people's computers.
One tactic the bad guys are trying is a twist on an old standby: e-mails purporting to come from legitimate companies that say they're still hiring.
The messages are loaded with links to the company's official Web site to throw off suspicious recipients. However, they are also packed with a dangerous surprise — a computer virus — hidden in an attachment that is supposed to be a job application.
One message, supposedly from Coca-Cola Co., trumpets that "We are hiring!" All the recipient has to do is fill out the attached application to get started.
There are some tip-offs, though, that the message is fraudulent: the English is choppy, the company promises 12 weeks of paid vacation and that "None of the positions require any kind of education or work experience!"
Another tactic represents the flip side of that deception. Spammers are sending e-mails pretending to reject people for jobs, instead of trying to recruit them. Those messages say the recipients weren't selected for a particular job, so the company has sent back their application — disguising the malicious program.
"What they're trying to tap into is human curiosity," said Dermot Harnett, principal analyst of anti-spam engineering with Symantec Corp. "Maybe people have lost their jobs, or they're looking for another job, and they're looking at their e-mail constantly to see if they have responses from potential employers."
The Federal Trade Commission is also warning about a spate of economic-stimulus scams — spam messages promising stimulus money simply by revealing bank account or credit card numbers.
One way to protect yourself is by never clicking on links or opening e-mail attachments from people you don't know. If you're a jobseeker who gets one of these messages, contact the company's human resources department yourself to follow up on an application or to make sure a job opening exists.
And don't rely on the sender's e-mail address either as proof that the message is coming from a legitimate source. Hackers can easily spoof those.
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